Chest for silverware



1954 M. 1. NAKEN 2,694,485

CHEST FOR- SILVERWARE Filed Feb. 2, 1953 United States Patent Office2,694,485 Patented Nov. 16 1954 CHEST non SILVERWARE Mom's I. Naken,Chicago, 111., assignor to M. I. Naken (30., Chicago, Iii, a corporationof Illinois Application February 2, 1953, Serial No. 334,467

2 Claims. (Cl. 206-16) This invention relates to chests for tablesilverware.

Chests of the type with which the present invention is concernedgenerally comprise a box having one or more racks therein for receivinggroups of table silverware, such as groups of forks, groups ofteaspoons, groups of soup spoons, and the like. These racks generallyhave slots into which the shank of the held article of silverware isplaced, so that the article of silverware extends on each side of therack. The box in which the rack is mounted is therefore constructed toallow sufficient space for the parts of the silverware that are toextend on opposite sides of the rack. The shanks or handles of thearticles of silverware all extend on one side of the rack. These arecomparatively long and therefore considerable space must be provided forthe shanks. If it is desired to place hollow handled butter spreaders inthe silverware chest it is found that there is considerable waste spacebecause the handle of the butter spreader is relatively short and,further, butter spreaders frequently cannot be conveniently stacked oneon top of the other as, for instance, in the case of spoons. This meansthat the racks for holding butter spreaders and for receiving varioustypes of spoons or forks are quite wasteful of space within the chest,and therefore requires a rack which must be made much larger than wouldbe necessary if such were utilized for greater efliciency.

It is one of the objects of the present invention to provide asilverware chest that has the usual racks for holding standardsilverware with an additional rack particularly made and located forholding hollow handled butter spreaders. It is a further object of thepresent invention to provide such a chest with means whereby the rackthat is adapted to hold hollow handled butter spreaders is also adaptedto hold other articles of silverware when it does not hold the butterspreaders. In accordance with the principles of the present inventionthe rack for holding hollow handled butter spreaders is made flat at itsend so that it can hold a carving set, and the rack is provided with aledge at its rear for holding a carving set against movement toward thesilverware that may be held in adjacent racks of the chest.

In accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention thebutter spreader holding rack is located at the forward end of the rackto hold two rows of butter spreaders, one row on each side of thetransverse center line of the rack, each of the butter spreadersextending lengthwise of the chest and the butter spreaders of each rackbeing spaced from one another in a direction transversely of the chest.

The attainment of the above and further objects of the present inventionwill be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawing forming a part thereof.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a chest constructed in accordance withthe present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged plan view of the butter spreader rack of thepresent invention;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken along the line 3-3 of Figure 2 andlooking in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 4 is a section taken along the line 44 of Figure 2 and looking inthe direction of the arrows.

The chest, indicated at 1, comprises a box-like body 2 and a box-likelid 3 hinged thereto and each containing racks for silverware. The box 2includes longitudinal front and rear sides 4 and 4', transverse sides 5,and a bottom 6. The cover is held in its open position by a link 7 thatis pivoted at its upper end to the cover and at its lower end isslidable in a slot formed in a slide 7' that is secured to the inside ofa transverse side 5. The front, rear and transverse sides are providedwith liners 8 of wood, cardboard, or other material, the exposedsurfaces of which are covered with flannel, said liners extending abovethe tops of the longitudinal and transverse sides of the body 2, asindicated at 10, and being adapted to make a snug fit within thelongitudinal and transverse sides of the cover 3 so that the chest whenclosed is substantially air-tight. The inner surfaces of the box-likebody are lined with flannel the same as are the liners 8.

The bottom 6 of the chest is divided into a front portion 12 and a rearportion 13 by a rack 14, which may consist of a block of wood-likematerial, slotted as at 16, so that the slots 16 receive the shanks ofarticles of table silverware, such as different kinds of spoons andforks, with the handle parts of the silverware lying in the frontportion 12 of the chest and the other portion of the article ofsilverware lying in the rear portion 13. All exposed surfaces of therack 14, including the surfaces of the slots 16, are covered withflannel, or the like, as is usual in silverware chests.

A rack 20 is provided at the front bottom of the boxlike body 2 forreceiving and holding hollow handled butter spreaders. The rack islocated centrally of the box adjacent to the front thereof and comprisesa block of wood having two rows of slots 24 therein and an upwardlyextending ledge 26. All exposed surfaces of the rack, including thesurfaces formed at the slots 24, are covered with flannel or the like 25for preventing scratching of the articles held therein. Each slot 24extends in a direction lengthwise of the tray, that is, in a directionparallel to the longitudinal edge 4 thereof, the respective slots ofeach row being spaced from one another in a direction transverse of thetray. The ledge 26 may comprise a piece of wood, or cardboard board ofsuflicient stiffness to serve the intended purposes. The two rows ofslots 24 are separated from one another by a solid portion 28 from whichextend parallel finger-like projections 30 (Fig. 3) that remain when theslots 24 are formed in the solid block that constitutes the base of therack 20.

The ledge 26 of the rack 20 is provided to facilitate the use of therack 20 for purposes other than holding butter spreaders. For instance,when the rack 20 is not holding butter spreaders the usual pieces of acarving set, such as a carving knife, carving fork and carving knifesharpener may be laid on the rack 20, these pieces extending on oppositesides of the rack and being held against sliding rearwardly of the chestby the ledge 26. Also, in lieu of a carving set or hollow handled butterspreaders the rack 20 may be used to support odd pieces of tablesilverware such as, for instance, serving spoons, serving forks, a gravyladle, and the like, in which case the handle shank part of the piece ofsilverware may rest on the rack 20 and be held by the ledge 26 againstmovement rearwardly in the chest, while the deeper part of the articleof table silverware rests between the rack 20 and the adjacenttransverse side 5 of the box.

The cover 3 is provided with the usual lower rack 36 and upper rack 38for receiving and holding knives, these racks also being covered withflannel or the like, and the lower rack 36 having a front 39 that ishinged at its lower end and is held in the position illustrated inFigure 1 by a spring clip 40, all as is well known in the art. When thecover of Figure 1 is in its lowered position the front 39 of the rack 36overlies the space 13 of the chest, and the rack 38 overlies the rack20. As a result, the rack 38 will overlie any carving set that may beplaced in the chest on the rack 20 between the inner front edge 8thereof and the ledge 26, thereby securely holding the carving set inplace. The racks 36 and 38 are also covered with flannel to inhibitscratching of the silverware that may be placed therein.

In compliance with the requirements of the patent statutes I have hereshown and described a preferred embodiment of my invention. It is,however, to be understood that the invention is not limited to theprecise construction here shown, the same being merely illustrative ofthe principles of the invention. What I consider new and desire tosecure by Letters Patent is:

1. A silverware chest comprising an open-top, boxlike body, and a rackwithin the'body and extending upwardly from the base thereof at one endof the. body, said rack comprising a central block having two rows offingers extending therefrom in opposite directions, the fingers of eachrow being spaced from one another in a horizontal direction in the boxand forming between one another narrow slots which are adapted toreceive the blades of butter Spreaders, said rack having a top surfacefor receiving articles of silverware, said rack being spaced fromopposite sides of the box to provide space for the handles of butterspreaders held in the rack, and means projecting upwardly of said topsurface at the end thereof remote from the forward end of the body toact as a stop for holding articles that may have been placed on the topof said rack from sliding 01f of that rack at that end thereof.

2. A silverware chest comprising an open-top, boxlike body, a rackwithin the body and extending upwardly from the base thereof at one endof the body, said rack comprising a central block having two rows offingers extending therefrom in opposite directions lengthwise of thebox, the fingers of each row being spaced from one another in adirection extending crosswise of the box and forming between one anothernarrow slots which are adapted to receive the blades of butterspreaders, said rack being spaced from the transverse sides of the boxto provide space for the handles of butter spreaders held in the rack,the top of the rack being substantially flat to act as a support forarticles of silverware, and an upwardly extending ledge at the end ofthe rack and spaced from and parallel to the adjacent end of the chestfor holding articles of silverware against rearward movement intoengagement with articles held in the chest, said rack and the slotsthereof being lined to inhibit scratching of silverware that is held inthe rack.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date D. 157,776 Naken Mar. 21, 1950 846,133 McIntyre Mar. 5, 1907964,406 Dewitt July 12, 1910 1,441,437 Lee Jan. 9, 1923 1,665,214 McGrawApr. 10, 1928 2,149,908 Poole Mar. 7, 1939 2,366,046 Naken Dec. 26, 19442,505,510 Vermillion Apr. 25, 1950 2,551,012 Kenah May 1, 1951 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 136,203 Switzerland Feb. 17, 1930

